Crossing the Line

Screen direction and "crossing the line" can cause huge amounts of confusion if not handled properly.

Crossing the line is a bit of a complicated issue, and it is a hard and fast rule, but one that is oddly flexible... because the unbreakable line can move, and move a lot.

The basic concept comes down to what it would be like if you were watching a conversation in person - say at a party. If two people are talking, you'd expect to be somewhere in between them, with one person on the left and the other on the right, so every shot on a character should be somewhere on "one side of the line". This can be a two shot with both people inside the frame, or on one character, whether it's a super close up, or a super wide, over the shoulder or what not. One of the basic ways to track this is simply "eye-line". If one character is looking to the left hand side of the shot, or "frame left" and is talking to another one who is looking "frame right", you just want to keep them looking off that side "until something changes". This can be a complete profile, or it could be that they are looking a half inch off the lens, but they should still maintain a consistent screen direction.

Where is gets complicated, is that this line - the one you are not supposed to cross - can shift. It shifts when actors move (blocking) or when the camera moves. Rarely do actors just square off and unload dialogue. So - every time the camera moves and the actors take a new position, a new line is drawn - that you are not supposed to cross.

Add to this, that often scenes have more than two people, which means that each pair of characters have their own line between each other, that must remain consistent as well.

BUT - to make it SIMPLE - [and you can do this when "blocking" a scene (deciding where the actors and the camera will be)]

Just think of your self as the camera and think of the cutting in real time while you are on set. At any given time *you* (the pov, the camera, the audience) will be in one relative space. Someone comes to the door and it's answered. You are standing there recording the even. You look at the Postman - to your right, and the Housewife - to your left. You keep them there as they chat at the door and then the Housewife invites the Postman in (ooh scary) and then as they move, you have to pick a new line as they move in. And you stay there until they settle. You can have multiple camera angles - but all from the same orientation. Until they reach the kitchen, where the Neighbor's Wife is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee. New lines are set up here.

To do this in 'real time'. Block the entire scene. All of the action. Rehearse it with the actors, but have the DP/CamOp watching. Then, once the *action* is blocked, walk it with the Camera in mind and pick your shots. They will naturally make sense. You are bringing yourself as the director through the scene in one natural pov, and you will bring your audience along as well, and this will naturally be along the same line - and you won't cross it.

But hey, it's a horror movie! Let's add in a roving POV. As the Mailman passes through the Living Room he looks at the mantle over the fireplace and sees melted red wax. You cut to his POV - and it has a line of it's own Directly from Him to the Object - the wax... And then you Crash cut to a roving POV over his shoulder watching him watch the wax... It has it's own line - and is a bit disturbing because if doesn't match that of the rest of the scene. You cut to another angle - along the line laid down by the roving POV, and you see a little boy watching from the top of the stairs! (ooh - scary) But when you return to the Housewife and the Postman, you need to return to that set of screen directions, consistent to when they arrived in the scene.

You can teleport, but you need to maintain your orientation....

Does this make any sense?

This also leads into subjects like "matching angles", "eyeline" and "matching frame" - all of which can and should be thrown out the window once you know what you're dealing with.